TRAVEL FEATURE - NAMIBIA
SHANE DONKIN
And The Road
Wasn't Good?
C
rossing over from South Afri-
ca into Namibia was straight
forward. We rode on to Karas-
burg, where accommodation
had been booked through Airbnb, but
first we needed fuel.
The first thing we noticed was the
main street; sealed with the adjoining
streets all gravel as is the case in Na-
mibia which has a lot of gravel roads
as soon as you go off the beaten track.
It was a public holiday in Namibia,
but the petrol station was open so
was able to get a sim card and some
data loaded for the phone as well.
The pump owner chased away the
many children hanging around as we
refuelled. They weren’t bothering us,
but he didn’t want them bothering
the tourists … apparently.
As we headed off in the morning
we were greeted by a very strong
cross wind but by the time we’d
turned off the bitumen and onto the
gravel road it had disappeared. We
had 60 kilometres of dirt road until
TRAVERSE 91
we reached our accommodation, not
far from Fish River Canyon, the sec-
ond largest canyon in the world.
The desert scenery along the way
was stunning and the road was in
excellent condition; my pillion appre-
ciated that. We arrived early at the
Canyon Roadhouse, a quirky sort of
petrol station, motel and campground
with lots of vintage cars parked inside
the restaurant.
We explored the canyon the next
day. Spectacular and surrounded by
desert with a track to de hiked to the
bottom where you can camp over-
night. It’s well worth a visit.
Keetmanshoop was our next stop,
that meant a further 100 kilometres
on dirt. A tourist had told us that the
road wasn’t good, but it was by far the
quickest way, so we decided to give it
a go. The road was fine. I wondered
if a Europeans opinion of a rough
road gravel road is different to an
Australians … I guess we are used to
it … I suppose.